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Loan writeoff changes need to go further

Posted|October 25, 2016

Kensington –New
changes to the rules around the writeoffs of government loans are a small step
in the right direction but more needs to be done, says Kensington-Malpeque MLA
and Opposition Economic Development and Tourism Critic Matthew
MacKay.

Amendments
to the Financial Administration Act proclaimed last week now require all loan
writeoffs over $25,000 to be publicly disclosed by Cabinet through an
Order-in-Council. Previously the public had no way to learn whether public money
loaned to the private sector was written off. The 2015 Auditor General’s Report was highly
critical of government lending practices and the lack of transparency with the
writeoff of millions of tax dollars through bad loans.

“Having
more transparency around writeoffs of government loans is something that’s badly
needed. The AG Reports into the eGaming scandal and government lending show
that. We were the only party to propose
disclosing government loan writeoffs in the last election. At first the
MacLauchlan government rejected our calls in the House for more transparency but
thanks to months of pressure from our Caucus the government finally saw the
light and came around,” says MacKay.

MacKay
highlighted several Opposition amendments to the legislation to strengthen
transparency which were rejected by the MacLauchlan government, including having
the law apply retroactively to loans already made. MacKay and the PC Opposition
were able to close a loophole that would have made disclosure of loan writeoffs
by the MacLauchlan Cabinet optional.

“We know that this government has been highly
secretive over the millions of dollars it loans out. That’s why this legislation
was such a fight. The changes don’t go as far as we would have liked and as an
Opposition we’ll push to further strengthen transparency like adding
retroactivity to the bill so past loan writeoffs can also be publicly disclosed.
As a first step the MacLauchlan government should be prepared to disclose any
loan writeoffs made since the last election,” says MacKay.